BREAKING NEWS: Vandals strike dozens of downtown sites

Vandals were caught on security video damaging a glass door of the City-County Health Dept. in San Angelo.

Alison Nicollette Arteaga Vandal Suspect, 19

Riley Dakota Craig Vandal Suspect, 17

Isidro Miguel DeLaCruz Vandal Suspect, 18

Standard-Times window destroyed by a ball bearing early Monday morning. At least 41 other instances of vandalism were reported as well.

This is an updated version of the story, the location and name of one of the vandalized businesses was misidentified.

Glaziers were in high demand Monday morning in downtown San Angelo, since vandals wielding slingshots and BB guns broke large windows in 41 downtown buildings overnight, city police said.

The police department received video footage from City Hall showing one of the vandalism suspects and the vehicle he was in at the time of the incident. The vehicle appears to be a white four-door passenger car, possibly a 1990-2000 model Honda, and the occupant appears to be a man with a medium to heavy build, according to Lt. Curtis Milbourn, police spokesman.

"They should not get a slap on the wrist for this. They damaged so many businesses downtown, and the people have to pay for that," said Tim Vasquez, chief of police. "This is completely disrespectful to our community."

Officer J.T. Scott said the front window of the San Angelo Standard-Times damaged in the spree was shattered by a ball-bearing that might have come from a sling shot.

The initial investigation indicates the incidents happened sometime between 1 a.m. and 4 a.m. Monday, Milbourn said in a news release.

As of Monday evening the 33 police reports compiled from various locations downtown estimate the total damage at $26,900.

"Right now, we're just giving estimates on the damages," said Joe Hernandez, worker for American Glass & Mirror company, as he and fellow worker Carlos Aguirre examined the Standard-Times window.

The two glass workers were facing a busy day: After they finished with the Standard-Times, they were headed to World Finance, Grandy's, the City-County Health Department, City Hall and Goodyear to do estimates for windows damaged in the spree.

Del Velasquez, executive director of Downtown San Angelo, said he sent out a survey in September to 300 property owners about the possibility of putting additional lighting and security cameras at their downtown establishments. The survey generated little interest from the property owners.

"This would have been the perfect scenario where the technology would have come in use," Velasquez said about the crime spree. "This would have been a great way to identify the vandals."

Anyone with information is asked to call the Criminal Investigations Division of the San Angelo Police Department at (325) 657-4251. Information can be offered anonymously by contacting Crime Stoppers at (325) 658-4357.

Who got hit

The following locations Monday complained of broken windows in an overnight vandalism spree: click on the link to the right in the green box for a map showing the locations of the vandalized properties.